Decision

RESOLVED: Cabinet:

a)                 Approved the recommendation to commence the processes necessary to bring the delivery of waste collections and cleansing services ‘in house’ to be delivered by a team employed by West Northamptonshire with a start date of June 2028. (5.23)

b)                 Approved the procurement of the necessary contracts to support the delivery of these services, including but not necessarily limited to:

•         Procurement of fleet

•         Procurement of vehicle maintenance

•         Procurement of fuel

•         Procurement of in-cab digital systems

•         Procurement of contracts for the haulage and treatment of dry mixed recycling, garden waste and food waste (6.14.3)

c)             Approved the recommendation to change residual waste collection frequency for properties with individual wheeled bins in the former South Northamptonshire and Northampton areas from fortnightly to every three weeks, by Spring 2027, aligning this collection with similar properties in the Daventry area. (5.44)

d)            Approved the recommended timetable for implementation of these proposals. (6.25)

e)            Delegated authority to the Executive Director for Place, Economy and Environment in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Recycling and Waste, and the Executive Director for Resources to:

•                      Finalise the specification and policy for the Waste Collections and Street Cleansing Services;

•                      Take decisions related to bringing the refuse collection, recycling and street cleansing services ‘in house’ so the services become directly delivered by the Council from June 2028;

•                      Take decisions relating to the procurement processes listed under 3.1b above, to enable the procurement to progress and for contracts to be awarded and executed, providing each procurement reaches a satisfactory conclusion.

REASONS RESOLVED:

1)     To ensure the Council has appropriate arrangements in place to enable it to fulfil its statutory duties for waste collection and street cleansing from 2028.

2)     To ensure the waste services across West Northants are delivered fairly to all residents.

3)     To ensure competitive and compliant procurement processes commence and progress in a timely manner, with contracts being awarded once the processes are completed to enable seamless continued service delivery.

4)     The proposals align with local government reform and transformation of waste collection and street cleansing services, ensuring cost effective and efficient waste services, whilst balancing the risks associated with changes to these services.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

1)     An appraisal of the options for service delivery was undertaken by senior officers of the waste team. Eight possible options were evaluated, as detailed in paragraph 5.13 of the report, including extending the current contractual arrangement with Norse and Veolia. The option which scored the highest in this appraisal was to bring both Collections and Cleansing in house. The in-house option was preferred by a majority of 5 of the 7 scorers.

2)     Officers from the Finance and Waste teams worked together on a shadow cost model to compare the estimated costs of delivering the services via an in-house team and via a contract (paragraph 5.16 - 5.21 of the report). The focus of these cost models was staffing and fleet running costs, overheads and profit (in the case of an outsourced contract). Factors which were common to both models such at provision of vehicles, depot and off take contracts were excluded from the model.